Dennis Wilson is a backup singer in the country music’s unofficial capital, Nashville, Tennessee. In the book Real Country Humor Wilson tells a true story about a friend of his who sings professionally at funerals and weddings.
Sometime back this friend got a call from a lady whose husband had died of a heart attack. She said, “I heard you sing at my cousin’s funeral, and I wondered if you’d sing at my husband’s funeral. He just died.”
Wilson’s friend said, “Yes, ma’am, that’s what I do. Did you have anything particular in mind?”
She said, “Well, it was so sudden and I’m so upset, I haven’t been able to think straight.”
“What was something he really liked?” his friend asked, and she finally thought long enough about it to come up with “Jingle Bells.”
“Yes, that’s it,” she said. “He really liked ‘Jingle Bells.’ Maybe you could sing that one.”
His friend thought for a moment and said, “‘Jingle Bells’ wouldn’t be appropriate for a funeral, would it?”
“But that was his favorite song,” the woman insisted.
“Okay, then,” he said, “I’ll do it.”
When his friend got there for the funeral, everybody was crying and carrying on it had been such a sudden death. But he got up and started singing, “Dashing through the snow . . .” People started frowning and giving him dirty looks. He says he could feel the hostility in the air. But he managed to finish the song and sit back down.
After the funeral, the lady came over with the money to pay him for singing. As she handed him the envelope she said in a scolding voice, “I meant the song ‘Glory Bells! not ‘Jingle Bells.’” (1)
“Jingle Bells” at a funeral? Well, maybe. Keep that thought in mind for a few moments.
Christmas is a joyous celebration. You would agree with that, wouldn’t you? The Christmas season is a time of great joy. Well, our lesson from the Epistle tells us that all of life should be a joyous celebration. Because the Lord of life has come into our world, every day should be a time of joy. That says to me that we should even be able to sing “Jingle Bells” at a funeral if we understand the Gospel rightly.
I Thessalonians 5, verse 16, only contains two words . . . making it one of the shortest verses in the Bible, but what a perfect verse for the third Sunday in Advent. The words of this short verse are, “Rejoice always.” That’s clear enough, isn’t it? It doesn’t say, “Rejoice sometimes.” It doesn’t say, “Rejoice when times are good and the economy is strong.” It doesn’t even say, “Rejoice during the Advent-Christmas season.” It says simply, “Rejoice always.” It could say, “Sing ‘Jingle Bells’ at a funeral.”
In many churches the third Sunday in Advent is known as Gaudete Sunday, from the Latin word for “rejoice.” In churches that celebrate Gaudete Sunday, a pink candle in the Advent wreath is lit. It is a reminder in the midst of the otherwise somber season of Advent, that the coming of the Lord which we are preparing to celebrate is a season of great joy. “Joy to the world,” we sing, “the Lord has come.”
Certainly the Christmas season gives us many opportunities for joy. We are surrounded by reminders that this is to be a season for being glad.
One woman, Wendy Wright, discovered the joy of the Christmas season in one of the most unlikely of places a homeless shelter in her city. Wendy and some others from her church visit homeless shelters each year to sing Christmas carols. The people living in homeless shelters have had their childhood dreams shattered, says Wendy. They live with very little hope. “In that setting,” Wendy says, “songs of snowmen and Christmas wish lists and hearty good cheer ring hollow.” What does ring true is the good news of a Savior.
At one of the shelters at which they were singing, Wendy met a man she says she will never forget. The group had been singing their Christmas carols in a smoke-filled, noisy room. They were ready to wind it all up when a homeless man about fifty in a soiled jacket approached Wendy. She recalls that this man’s “perceptions of things, due either to ill health or some chemical substance, seemed doubtful.” But he asked Wendy if she would sing his favorite Christmas song with him. The song was, “O Holy Night.”
Wendy agreed and they began singing. The crowded room gradually grew silent as the two of them raised up their voices together. “O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining, / It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth . . .”
The man in the soiled jacket leaned on the edge of a tattered sofa about three feet from Wendy singing with his eyes closed. As he sang Wendy noticed a change come over the man. “The tired creases of his street-weary face softened as he [sang],” she recalls.
As he continued to sing, his face shone and tears fell gently from his lowered eyes. “I knew, at that moment,” Wendy says, “that his longing and mine were one . . . it is etched on the human heart.” (2) That longing is for a Savior.
There are many opportunities during the Christmas season to experience joy. But the writer of Thessalonians would have us experience joy all year long. He would have us experience joy when the carols and the lights and the nativity scenes have all been put away. How do we do that? We do that by reading the rest of the sentence from I Thessalonians. The two words, “Rejoice always,” are only the first phrase in a sentence with three parts. The entire sentence reads like this: “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
These are the keys to having the Christmas spirit in your life at all times ”Rejoice always, pray continually,” and “give thanks in all circumstances.” That really makes sense if you think about it.
Verse sixteen reads, “Rejoice always.” Paul is saying to us, first of all, that joy is a primary characteristic of a Christian. If you do not have a sense of joy in your life, you need to examine your Christian faith and see if perhaps you have a problem that you are not acknowledging.
Theologian Marcus Borg notes that in English, the words “joy” and “jewel” come from the same root words. Like a jewel, joy is of great value and beauty, and greatly prized. But unlike a jewel, it can neither be purchased nor possessed. It is a gift. We cannot make joy happen and we cannot own it. As the Apostle Paul says, it is one of the primary gifts of the Spirit. Joy comes from God. Joy is God’s will for us.
Joy does not come from having life figured out. Joy comes from relaxing oneself in the knowledge that we are loved.
There is a charming story in Boswell’s life of Johnson. Johnson met a man called Edwards who had been at college with him and whom he had not seen for forty years. They went to Johnson’s rooms and talked of many things. Telling of what he had done since they had been to college together Edwards said: “You are a philosopher, Dr. Johnson. I have tried too in my time to be a philosopher; but, I don’t know how, cheerfulness was always breaking in.” (3)
There are many people who rob themselves of joy because they think that they have to be able to fully understand life. Let me assure you that will never happen. That’s what it means to live by faith. We don’t understand everything that happens in life, but we know the Creator of the universe loves us. Bethlehem’s babe reminds us of that.
Joy does not come from having life figured out. Neither does it come from always living in the sunshine. C. S. Lewis used to talk about the difference between joy and pleasure. Joy comes from within. It is steady and abiding. Pleasure, on the other hand, comes and goes with whatever is happening in our environment. It is extrinsic because it arises from the outside. When the circumstances change in one direction, pleasure comes. When fortune reverses, pleasure leaves.
We have our small pleasures, and that’s fine. But one day they will fail us. Joy will never fail us. Joy resides within us and undergirds us regardless of what is happening on the outside. It is the free gift of God that comes with faith in Jesus Christ.
If you believe in Jesus Christ and your heart is not filled with joy, ask God for it. It is your birthright as one who has given your life to Jesus. Christmas is a perfect time for doing that. Joy is not only the privilege, but also the responsibility of a Christian. It is our witness to the world that God is alive.
A French philosopher once said, “I look at the Christians or those who call themselves such. They look so morbid and sad. If that’s Christianity, I’ll have no part of it.”
I say to you that something is wrong with the Christians he is encountering. If you know that Christ is your Savior, if you know that God loves you, if you know that your life has meaning and purpose and that you have a Friend who will stand with you through eternity, how can you not feel a sense of joy? “Rejoice always.” That’s verse sixteen. Then verse seventeen tells us, “Pray continually . . .”
Paul is telling us, in the second place, to cultivate a sense of God’s presence within us a presence that we carry with us always. If we have a sense of God’s presence in our lives at all times, we will be able to rejoice. That’s what it means to pray continually.
Prayer is not a mere ritual in which we repeat the same words over and over, “Forgive me of my sins, take care of my family, God is great, God is good, now we thank God for our food.” Paul doesn’t mean for us to mouth formulaic prayers all the time. He certainly doesn’t mean for us to bow our heads and close our eyes while we’re driving. When he says “pray continually,” he is telling us to get to the very heart of prayer. Live in God’s presence. Let God’s Spirit so fill us that every moment is touched by God’s glory and love.
Years ago, Journalist Skip Thurman told of meeting a remarkable Washington, D.C. cab driver named Percival Bryan. Bryan came to the United States in 1924, as a stowaway on a banana boat from Jamaica. For decades after his arrival in Washington Bryan drove people both ordinary people and famous people in his cab. While driving them, Bryan had the quirky habit of asking each passenger to sign a guest book. After more than 50 years, eight cabs and carrying hundreds of thousands of passengers, Percival Bryan’s autograph collection has been put on display at the Smithsonian Institute. It contains the names of presidents, jazz greats, senators, scientists, and everyday people; mostly everyday people. The 312 books that make up this collection chronicle one man’s journey through some of America’s most volatile times.
In a story Thurman wrote about Bryan, Thurman reports that Bryan was remarkable for his friendliness and poise. One night, his passengers, two young white men, robbed him. But before the ride was over, not only had they given back the money, they had both signed his book.
“What keeps you going?” asked Thurman. “My priorities,” Bryan said, “friends. Most of all, God. Every morning I get down on my knees and I have my little prayers. I ask God to go with me, protect me, ride with me, and take my eyesight, my nose, my mouth especially my mouth and share it with others. And I tell you, sometimes I feel very rich. Don’t have nothin’, not much money in my pocket, but inside I feel like I have done my best and God has given me the wisdom and the strength to keep going.” (4)
Cabby Percival Bryan is with God now, but those autograph collections in the Smithsonian speak of a man who knew how to rejoice always and to pray continually. God rode with him in his cab. God was the major influence in how he conducted his life. His life was a continuous prayer, and joy was his constant companion. God was with him always. That’s the second key for keeping the Christmas spirit all year long. Cultivate a sense of God’s presence and carry it with you everywhere you go. “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances . . .”
Here is the final key: “Give thanks in all circumstances . . .” Develop a profound sense of gratitude in your life that you can hold on to regardless of your circumstances.
During World War II, American soldier David Read spent many years as a prisoner of war in a Bavarian prison camp. For the first few years in that camp, says Read, the prisoners were able to keep their spirits up. They even found a way to celebrate the major holidays, like Christmas. But one Christmas, near the war’s end, the men in the camp were beginning to lose hope. They didn’t even have the heart to plan anything for Christmas. Read wrote a poem encouraging the men to celebrate Jesus no matter what the circumstances. He recalled the apostle Paul’s words in Philippians 2: 1-11, where he wrote about being shipwrecked, beaten, and imprisoned for his preaching. But he never lost the joy of proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ.
After his return from war, David Read entered the ministry. Many years later, he recalled that final Christmas in a prison camp, and he wrote, “The Gospel is no less true when circumstances are most terrible. If we soak ourselves in this truth we shall never find ourselves making excuses for our lack of desire to celebrate . . . May Christmas joy be real and radiant for us all no matter what our circumstances.” (5)
“Count your many blessings . . .” says an old Gospel tune. Do it daily, even when things are not going well and it will transform your life.
“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Ask God for joy if you do not have it in your life already. Joy is your privilege and responsibility as a follower of Jesus Christ. Cultivate a sense of God’s presence and carry it with you always. That’s what it means to “pray continually.” And develop a profound sense of gratitude in your life that you can hold on to regardless of your circumstances a gratitude attitude. This is God’s will for you, says St. Paul. Listen to the message of these three short verses and I promise you that you will become a new person. The spirit of Christmas will be with you throughout the year. You might even request “Jingle Bells” to be sung at your funeral.
1. Bobby Braddock, Real Country Humor collected and edited by Billy Edd Wheeler, August House, Little Rock, 2002.
2. Wendy M. Wright, The Vigil (Nashville: Upper Room Books, 1992), pp. 45-46.
3. James Boswell, Life of Dr. Johnson, entry for 17 April 1778. William Barclay, And He Had Compassion (Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 1976), p. 162.
4, Cited by the Very Rev. Sherry Crompton, http://sermons.trinitycoatesville.org/.
5. I’ll Be Home for Christmas (New York: The Stonesong Press, Inc., 1999), pp. 115-117.